6. Thenmozhi Rajaratnam

Public Domain

Under almost any other circumstances, Tamil Tiger operative Thenmozhi Rajaratnam should be remembered today not for her successful assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (seen in the drawing to the left) in 1991, but for her failure. On May 21st of that year, Ghandi was campaigning, and in what is considered one of the biggest national security failures in Indian history, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam was able to get far too close to Ghandi, easily eluding the scant security detail, and detonate a bomb.